God of the Internet supposes an all-too-real near future, where jihadists go digital and target American critical infrastructure (water, power, and financial). As a security professional in my other life for over a decade, I’ve always wondered if it would be possible to write a compelling thriller centered around the very real landscape of digital warfare. God of the Internet held some promise that it might be, but ultimately fell a little flat.

It was fairly clear who God of Internet (the antagonist’s mysterious internet handle) was in the narrative from a fairly early point - or at least I thought it would be. As it became more and more apparent, but never outright acknowledged, I began to think there would have to be some sort of left-field surprise. But no. There wasn’t.


Ultimately, the plot was well-paced (and the book was a quick, entertaining enough read) but predictable from the first ten chapters onwards. Where the author really shines, though, is in breaking down fairly complex IT/security concepts into understandable chunks - God of internet does a good job of expressing the dangers our country faces on the digital front.

This story kept the tension high and the surprises coming. I learned a good bit about computers and hacking.
Many thanks to Magestic Content Los Angeles and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

God of the Internet by Lynn Lipinski

This is hopefully not foresight. The story is about a talented hacker who plans on bringing havoc to the U.S. economy.
The hacker plans on wreaking havoc and double crossing his sponsor.
A family caught up in the situation supplies the pathos of the story. Ken, a white hat organizer, is trying to help Homeland Security find and defeat the hacker.
The tribulations of Omar a teen with medical issues and his sister Leila humanize the story as well.
The Equifax hack settlement is currently playing out in the news and certainly provides a realistic and terrifying backdrop for this plot.
The author points out a lot of vulnerability issues. I thought the one about back up drives was very telling but the author never pursued that issue.
This is a scary book due to it’s plausibility.
I recommend it.

Cybersecurity makes for an interesting and timely plot given today's world. The author did a good job handling a complicated subject. I was not too crazy about Julianna-- she was not as strong of a character as I would like her to have been. It was an ok read, but didn't always hold my attention.

A glimpse into the world of hacking and hackers and a perfect mystery/thriller for any fan.

The plot for this book sounded super interesting. An ISIS look-a-like called the Islamic Crusade releases a computer worm that had devastating effects throughout the U.S. However, the characterization fell completely flat. I wasn't able to identify or invest in any of the characters. Many of the character-driven stakes felt very cliche. The twist in the last quarter of the book wasn't believable at all and I had a hard time tracing it back through the early part of a book. It had a lot of potential, but failed to deliver.

I'm not sure if the author intended for the reader to make the connections of the whodunit part well, WELL before the characters did, but I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt. It's always a dance between thriller authors and readers with regard to plot and character reveals.

The technical explanations were adequate for lay people, though perhaps even a little oversimplified in some places, and even outdated in others. I realize the publishing cycle can be slow, but even die-hard computer security experts have abandoned PGP for the most part.

An Islamic fundamentalist known as God of the Internet looks to cripple the United States by attacking various systems involved in the day to day function of our country. Using worms and back doors to various software programs, the hacker throws monkey wrench after monkey wrench into things like water processing, the electrical grid and other things that Americans take for granted in an attempt to cripple our country and bring the United States to its knees.

This is a great story of the trials and tribulations to stop the threat. Very current and very telling of what could happen. Well worth a read.

I wanted to like God of the Internet by Lynn Lipinski more than I did but I had several smallish issues with it. I did like the book so I don't want to overstate my disappointment, but a few things just kept me from really liking it.

I don't mind stories where the criminal/culprit is fairly evident early on. Many books of that sort make the work of those trying to solve the crime the compelling part of the book, not simply who it was. We, as readers, are often going to guess the person before the authorities in the book do, we usually have access to more things that are pertinent and none of the things that don't matter, since they never make it into the books, so it is no reflection on our sleuthing ability to get the culprit early in the book. Unfortunately, in this book, the thrill of the chase did not compensate for the ease with which the God of the Internet (the bad guy's nickname) could be determined by a reader. It was okay but not compelling.

Second, I was put off by Juliana's somewhat weak personality. I don't mean that she was not written well, she was, I was just sorry that she had to be made such a weak person in so many ways. I don't want to elaborate on what I mean since it might give away some things in the book.

I did think the premise was good and the handling of the techno-thriller aspects, what happens along with how and why, is quite good. Yet even in techno-thrillers I am a character oriented reader and I just wasn't that interested in the characters as people.

I would recommend this to readers just don't expect more than an enjoyable read with few bumps along the way.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

I was quite disappointed in this book, as the topic is one of my favorite lately. It has has valuable technical information, but it fails to achieve literary prodigy: the dialogues are very unappealing and the plot is very slow paced, as the story is lost in many details, not all of them relevant for the narrative.

I gave this an average review, not bad, not great - see my review at menreadingbooks.com

This is the kind of fiction book that gets you freaked out about real life. It follows several people as the Islamic Crusade introduces a worm that could wreak havoc on the computer systems throughout the United States. We get POVs from the hacker, a white hat security guy and a woman married to one of the premier online security people. So while this story is really about the lives of the people that we follow, it really freaked me out about how “easy” someone with bad intentions could take down utilities or even banking systems. It really makes you think how much of our lives are connected and ran by computer systems. What would happen if the electric grid or water systems went down?

What a great book! It was a fun fast read. Kept me interested, and also was careful about laying stereotypes to Muslims.

Talk about a bit real! With technology more and more controlling this book really hit home. It was a fast and interesting read that kept me wanting more.

I liked this good book, and I read it and was intrigued by most of it. I just did not like the end and knowing who the killer was became obvious and a little dumb. But I liked the location it was set in and the characters.

Best book of the year. A stunning and captivating weave of cyber terrorists, normal life, and intimate family moments. Such a wonderful journey of words. What's next?

“God of the Internet” eBook was published in 2016 and was written by Lynn Lipinski (http://lynnlipinski.me). Ms. Lipinski has published two novels.

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is set in contemporary Los Angeles, California. The main characters are Ken Oakey and Juliana Al-Dossari.

Oakey is a cybersecurity expert, a white hat hacker who works to make the Internet a better, safer place. When a new and virulent worm is detected, he is drawn into a working group to defeat it.

Al-Dossari is married and has two teenagers. Her husband is a computer security expert at UCLA. Their happy marriage has begun to fall apart. When her husband threatens to return to Saudi Arabia taking their kids with him, she begins to think more of how he has changed.

The worm spreads to many thousands of machines and starts to affect infrastructure in the US - water treatment, power, financial institutions. An Islamic Terrorist group claims responsibility and threatens more if the US does not withdraw its troops from the Middle East. Gradually both Oakey and Al-Dossari begin to believe that they know who is involved. Things are clouded though due to their growing attraction for one another.

I thoroughly enjoyed the 6.5 hours I spent reading this 245 page Thriller. While I am not a cybersecurity expert, I do have a background in computer systems. I found that much of the computer tech and security threats mentioned in the story are very real. I liked the story, though I felt I knew who the hacker behind the worm was early on. The cover art is OK, though a bit dull. I give this novel a 4.5 (rounded up to a 5) out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

I was unable to read this book as I lost my phone and was unable to retrieve the book file that was sent to me. This title has since been archived.